Black Tide

Biodata

Nature and Behavior

The Black Tide itself and its accompanying Strange Mist are distinct hazards. Surviving an expedition into the mist does not mean someone has entered and survived the Tide 35.

• Irregular outbreaks: Its appearance has no established pattern, although Nantu experiences several outbreaks a year and Wuda Island has an annual period of increased activity 2 3 41.
• Long-term encroachment: Research and statistics indicate that the Tide surrounding much of Nantu is gradually contracting inward 2.
• Variable reach: One Qingsha outbreak threatened to spread Strange Mist into the city proper; a later outbreak stopped at the shore 61 80.
• Rapid retreat: Ordinary outbreaks can end by the following morning, allowing transportation and daily activity to resume 4 37.
• Unexplained composition: Neither its formation nor what lies beyond it is known. Cheng Sheng’s later investigations do not establish its origin 2 83.

Appearance and Physical Properties

• Sea surface: Appears as a thick layer of constantly churning black matter, resembling spilled oil at close range 80.
• Movement: Streams and writhes in clusters. During Cheng Sheng’s coastal investigation, it crawls up a reef and spreads into a fan shape before him 80.
• Texture: Despite its liquid appearance, a sample feels dry, cool, and slightly silky. It disperses when rubbed between his fingers, leaving a black patch that quickly disappears 80.
• Surrounding silence: The sea beneath it is unnaturally quiet, giving Cheng Sheng the impression that the substance might swallow sound; this is not confirmed 80.
• Strange Mist: Ranges from a thin gray-black veil to dense gray fog. It feels dry rather than damp, as though drawing moisture from the air 35 80.

Dangers and Effects

Black Tide Creatures

Sulai identifies Black Tide creatures as its greatest threat. Enormous specimens rarely invade cities except during a Black Calamity, though Cheng Sheng encounters a smaller humanoid creature within Balai’s mist zone 30 36.

Evil Spirit Awakening

The Strange Mist supplies the energy that allows accumulated resentment and evil emotions to manifest as spirits. Under ordinary conditions, these obsessions have little substantial effect on living people 36.

• Hidden threats become active: Spirits that people normally cannot detect or be harmed by awaken under the mist’s influence 30.
• Theater encounter: A hanging woman attacks Cheng Sheng in Balai’s abandoned Pongwara Grand Theater before his Primordial Mark absorbs her 35.
• Artificially prepared spirits: At Qingsha No. 3 Middle School’s old campus, Cheng Sheng discovers a hair doll and an evil array created using students who died by suicide 61 62.
• Physical manifestations: A masked, axe-wielding corpse fiend pursues a group of Black Curse Society apprentices, killing several before Cheng Sheng intervenes. He suspects its physical body may be connected to its emergence deep in the mist near the Tide 80 81.

Growth and Mutation

The Tide and its mist can nourish Cheng Sheng’s Abyssal creatures. The full mechanism remains unexplained 61 80 83.

• Mist absorption: A Hell Plague Fly larva draws in Strange Mist and forms a sturdy gray cocoon in just over ten seconds once removed from Cheng Sheng’s body 61.
• Direct Tide exposure: Plague fly larvae dropped into the black substance immediately form black cocoons, with small whirlpools developing around them 80.
• Observed changes: All twenty-one flies left at the reef undergo changes; one is subsequently identified as a Plague Envoy 81 83.
• Uncertain personal risk: Cheng Sheng avoids deliberately absorbing the Tide’s energy himself because he fears uncontrolled mutation rather than a beneficial evolution 80.

Defense and Public Safety

Documented Response Levels

Warnings and Precautions

• Stay indoors: Residents are told to close doors and windows and wait until dawn or an official notice lifting the alert 3 61.
• Shelter if stranded: Official advice for people caught in a Strange Mist zone is to enter a reliable nearby building. Survival is generally possible if they are not especially unlucky 35.
• Closures: Outdoor work stops during outbreaks. Shopping malls and primary and secondary schools close ahead of a forecast severe Qingsha event 3 61.
• Forecasts and notifications: Meteorological bureaus issue forecasts and text warnings; mobile carriers and other institutions also relay safety reminders 32 33 61.
• Information restrictions: The government bans most visual records relating to the Tide to avoid public panic. Videos shared through the Dark Forum rapidly become inaccessible 2 3.
• Supernatural protection: Su Tai states that ordinary fighters cannot stand against the Tide’s spirits and monsters, making protection from Curse masters necessary 27.

Impact on Society

Daily Life and Security

• Deep-rooted fear: Nantu’s people fear the Tide more than ordinary floods or dangerous animals, despite their otherwise hardy reputation 2.
• Normalized disappearances: People go missing during outbreaks often enough that Balai’s news briefly reports several disappearances before moving on 37.
• Limited policing: The Tide contributes to the police’s restricted role and the prevalence of gangs. Areas farther north, nearer Tide-overrun territory, are described as increasingly chaotic 19 48.
• Martial arts promotion: The government encourages physical training because of the Tide and offers related bonus points on the major examination 6.
• Transport disruption: Frequent outbreaks interfere with shipping as well as passenger rail services 19 67.

Tourism and Black Tide Chasers

• Experience tours: Travel agencies sell Black Tide tours, particularly to inland Dongyue visitors who have heard of the phenomenon without seeing it 22.
• Controlled viewing: Tours run by Cheng Sheng’s parents use fixed locations and relatively comprehensive precautions, making them safer than unauthorized exploration 35.
• Thrill-seeking: Some people sneak into mist-covered areas with cameras. Accidents are common, but successful returns encourage further exploration 35.
• Black Tide Chasers: A small subculture worships the Tide as an idol or totem and follows its outbreaks 37.

Cheng Sheng’s Investigations

Unresolved Questions

• Abyssal connection: The response of Cheng Sheng’s flies and altered body suggests a relationship with the Abyss, but does not establish that the Tide originates there 61 80.
• Value as an offering: Cheng Sheng suspects Black Tide creatures could be valuable sacrifices; he has not yet tested that hypothesis 83.
• Usefulness to Curse masters: Whether its energy benefits the local Curse master system remains an open question in his research 83.

Misidentified Incident

• Sucha Street massacre: Cheng Sheng and Song Cai initially mistake footage of a destructive black shadow for a Tide-related attack. Wu Li says the deaths were unrelated, and police attribute them to a wanted human suspect; the affected Tide zone was elsewhere 2 4 5.